Formal exams are used to assess students at the end of each semester in many countries. Why are these exams used by schools and universities ? What other types of assessment are possible ?

Schools and universities in numerous countries throughout the world use academic examinations as a method of their students' assessment at the end of every term. These exams are commonly used because educational institutions consider it as the most effective way to check students' knowledge of the subjects learnt during the term. Although formal examination have become a traditional form of checking the academic level of students, there are a lot of possible variations of evaluation such as projects and group assignments. Many professors claim that efficiency of academic examinations lies in the on-topic questions asked to the students which are the best way to challenge their mind. Seeing the usage of gained knowledge of the theory, teaching staff is able to measure students' academic progress appropriately. To give an example, I have been a student for many years as well as I always wanted to be evaluated correctly according to my answers which showed my ability to use everything I learnt on the lectures. In short, the efficiency of formal examination is the main reason why this type of exam is widely conducted in educational establishments. Moving on to the alternative academic estimation, various means of determining learning progress can be used by professors and tutors. Since modern labour market requires more practical rather than theoretical skills from workers, a more applied way of evaluation, including projects and group assignments, might be fully relevant. As an example, many Ukrainian companies accuse local universities of conducting traditional exams that prevents future employees from being successful in a contemporary working environment. Summing up, the examination must be variative and flexible in order to enable students getting practicable testing of their skills. To conclude, formal exam is a traditional approach to estimate the progress of students over the year. However many educational institutions view academic exams as an effective way to control level of understanding, there are various mechanisms of evaluation such as projects and group tasks which are more practical and relevant according to trends in the modern job market.